Government agencies are implementing virtualization, cloud computing, and mobile devices and applications to help keep costs in line and deliver quality services to the public.

By Bob
Violino

Striving to
increase efficiency and improve services at a time when budgets are tighter, state
and local governments are turning to IT solutions that can help them meet their
goals. Like many technology users in business, government agencies are
implementing virtualization, cloud computing, and mobile devices and
applications to help keep costs in line and deliver quality services to the
public.

Virtualization—at
both the server and desktop level—has enabled Iowa's Workforce Development
Agency (IWD) to save money and improve services. The agency contributes to the
economic security of Iowa's workers, businesses and communities through a
comprehensive statewide system of employment services, along with education and
the regulation of health, safety and employment laws.

Facing
budget cuts at both the state and federal level, IWD was forced to reduce the
number of its physical offices across the state from 55 to 19, but it still
needed a way to provide services. "Even though budgets were being cut
tremendously, the need to provide services was not reduced," says Gary
Bateman, CIO at IWD. "Our citizens still need our services, and we needed
to find a better way to provide those services."

The
department had been providing virtual desktops to its employees for a couple of
years, using software from VMware. When faced with losing physical offices, it
decided to expand the use of the virtual technology to allow citizens access to
services without the need to drive to one of the remaining offices.

To
accomplish that, IWD teamed with public partners that already had Internet
access—including libraries, places of worship, abuse shelters, National Guard
Armories, and high schools across the state—to offer the same services
previously available only in physical offices.

IWD began
the rollout of virtual access points (VAP) in July 2011 and set a goal of
deploying a total of 200 sites—with at least one in all 99 counties—by the end
of 2011. The agency did more than meet this goal: It far surpassed it, with
more than 500 sites and almost 2,000 desktops by year end.

When the
agency started deploying virtual desktops to employees a few years ago, it
encountered a problem managing storage for the new virtualized desktop
environment. To solve the problem of data access bottlenecks and for easier
management of data, IWD purchased a storage management system from NetApp.

"Having
VMware coupled with the storage system from NetApp [gave] us the flexibility to
react quickly when we needed to deploy VAPs across the state," says Jean
Foshier, lead systems architect with the agency.

IWD is also
benefiting from a server virtualization strategy that it launched more than
four years ago using virtualization software from VMware and blade servers.
About 85 percent of the department's Windows and Linux servers are now
virtualized, and IWD has reduced the number of physical servers considerably,
Foshier says.

The
department is also expanding its use of tablets and smartphones to provide
employees with easier access to applications and data from a variety of
locations.

"VMware
allows us to run a virtual Windows 7 desktop on an iPad and reap the benefits
of mobility without the risk of storing data on the mobile device," says CIO
Bateman. "This technology is allowing us to provide services to more
people than was possible with physical offices."